The Budget Agreement to Raise the Caps

The bipartisan budget agreement reached between House and Senate leadership and the Trump Administration represents a vast improvement over the harmful cuts contained in the President’s 2020 budget, and it provides much-needed certainty. The agreement increases discretionary funding limits for 2020 and 2021 and suspends the debt limit for two years, helping secure a strong future for the American people.

Without Congressional action, statutory caps on discretionary funding will force an 11 percent cut to defense and a 9 percent cut to nondefense discretionary (NDD) programs for 2020 relative to the amounts provided for 2019. Such deep cuts would have a devastating effect on U.S. national security and economic vitality. The budget agreement replaces these destructive cuts with a realistic budgetary framework so that Congress, through its annual appropriations bills, can make critical investments in our nation’s infrastructure and people.

The agreement also rejects the President’s harmful budget philosophy. The Trump budget would cut 2020 NDD funding by 9 percent from the 2019 enacted level, requiring deep cuts in programs vital to our economic and national security. The budget agreement instead provides a $22 billion increase for defense and a $27 billion increase for NDD for 2020, recognizing that both are important for our country’s security and prosperity.

The NDD increase includes a new one-time cap adjustment to provide additional funding toward the cost of conducting the 2020 Census. The agreement provides additional small increases for both defense and NDD for 2021.